Star Junior Springbok scrumhalf Haashim Pead has been included in the Lions’ Currie Cup squad following his outstanding performances at the U20 World Championships.
Pead won the Player-of-the-Tournament award after the Junior Boks beat their New Zealand counterparts in the final to lift the trophy for the first time since 2012.
The speedy No 9 scored six tries and assisted four during the tournament. He also surpassed France star Antoine Dupont’s record for running metres by a scrumhalf at the tournament, racking up 232m from 15 carries during the pool stages.
On Wednesday, Pead was also invited to the Springboks’ training camp ahead of their home Rugby Championship matches against Australia. He will be joined in camp by flank Bathobele Hlekani and outside centre Cheswill Jooste to see first hand how the Boks prepare for a big tournament.
New Bulls coach Johann Ackerman, who assisted the Junior Boks as a coaching consultant during the U20 World Championships, says Pead is a special player and kid with a great head on his shoulders.
“Haashim Pead is an outstanding nine and one of our leaders. He brought a lot of calmness … he doesn’t get fazed and his demeanour is relaxed,” Ackerman said.
“His strengths are his ability to see space and to break. He had two or three great individual moments, where he turned the tide by sniping around the breakdown and making big line breaks. He also makes good support runs and gets a lot of assists. His box kicking is good.
“He is in a purple patch at the moment and everybody knows it. He broke Dupont’s running metres record at a U20 World Championships, which shows his quality.”
Flank Thando Biyela, who captained the Junior Springboks against Scotland, has also been included in the Lions’ Currie Cup squad, which also features quite a few experienced players such as captain and hooker Jaco Visagie and former Stormers and Blitzboks wing Angelo Davids.
